The Morning After
by frayedeecat
Summary: "Zuko, what's going on? Am I sick? I feel terrible…" He awkwardly cleared his throat. "You're hungover. You had a lot to drink last night, remember?" "Hungover? What does that mean?" He shifted on his feet. "Alcohol reacts badly with people's bodies, so the morning after you drink a lot, you feel bad."


_Author's Note: This is a sequel to One Too Many, my first Zutara oneshot. I wasn't originally going to write a sequel, but I got a review from a guest asking for one, so to you, lovely reviewer: here is your sequel with lots more fluff! Enjoy!_

Katara woke up slowly, emerging from sleep like a platypus bear coming out of hibernation. It took her a while to open her eyes. Her head was pounding… was she sick? What happened? The light was almost scalding in its brightness. She groaned and closed her eyes again.

Someone knocked at her door. She called weakly, "Yeah?"

A deep, raspy voice replied, "May I come in?"

Was that… Zuko? What was going on? Maybe he could tell her. "Yeah."

Even though she had given him permission to enter her room, he lingered at the door frame, leaning on his shoulder, arms crossed. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Not good," she admitted. "My head hurts a lot and I feel kind of sick. What happened last night? I don't remember…"

Was Zuko… blushing? "Um… we went to see the show, you know, the Boy in the Iceberg, that the Ember Island Players put on…"

"I know that part," she huffed impatiently. "What happened after that?"

Now he was really blushing. "You wanted to go for a walk, but everyone was kinda… um… worried about you, so I followed you, but you got mad and ran away, and you ran into, well, a bar."

"Me? In a bar?"

"Um, yeah. I don't really know what happened after that since I didn't find you for a while, but I guess you met a guy and he bought you a bunch of drinks, and later you said he… uh… kissed you? I guess? And then I found you and took you back home."

"Oh, spirits. I kissed a stranger? You've got to be lying."

"I wish. Um… you were pretty drunk though. You weren't really yourself."

She flung an arm over her eyes and groaned again. "I can't believe this…"

Zuko moved hesitantly into the room and pulled open the curtains a little bit more, letting sunlight spill into the dim space. When Katara hissed and tried to burrow into her blankets, he shut them again, hurriedly apologizing, "I'm sorry, I figured you would want to get up and train…"

"Spirits, no! It's way too early!" Katara cried.

"It's almost midday."

She threw her arm away from her face and stared at him. "What?!"

"Yeah," Zuko awkwardly replied. "You slept in a lot." After a pause, he asked quietly, "So, do you want to get up to train, or…"

She moaned, "I don't think I can get up at all. I feel awful."

"Oh, um, do you need anything?" Zuko quickly asked.

"Some water would be great."

"I'll go get that for you right away."

"Thanks," she mumbled. Her head was so fuzzy… she blinked and Zuko was gone. Where had he disappeared to? Had he even been there in the first place? She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, allowing herself to sink into the bed. Whose room had this been, back when the Fire Lord and his family had inhabited this house? Who had slept in this bed before her?

She was jolted from her dreamy reverie by a sharp _clack_ on the table next to her. Cracking open an eye while simultaneously cringing away from the noise, she discovered it was simply Zuko placing a glass down on her nightstand.

He winced and quickly apologized, "Oh, sorry, um, that was kinda loud…"

She groaned and asked, "Zuko, what's going on? Am I sick? I feel terrible…"

He awkwardly cleared his throat. "You're hungover. You had a lot to drink last night, remember?"

"Hungover? What does that mean?"

He shifted on his feet. "Alcohol reacts badly with people's bodies, so the morning after you drink a lot, you feel bad."

"Oh, spirits." After a pause, she peeked at him again and asked quietly, "Did I do anything terribly embarrassing last night?"

Zuko quickly shook his head, "No, no." Then he added, as a blush crept anew up his cheekbones, _why had she never noticed his beautiful cheekbones,_ "Well, you did wade into the ocean with all your clothes on, and then stripped to your undergarments afterwards, but that's all."

"I stripped? Did anyone see?!" She was absolutely mortified. Now Zuko was going to think she was _that_ kind of girl, the one who got drunk and kissed strangers and stripped on beaches…

"No, um…" here he coughed, "just me."

"Tui help me…" she muttered.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Zuko awkwardly said, "Um, if it helps, I didn't really see anything… you weren't showing _that_ much skin…"

She simply groaned once more in response.

"So, um... do you want to go eat something, maybe? You might feel better afterwards."

"No!" she indignantly cried. "I don't want anyone to see me like this!" It was bad enough that she was embarrassing herself in front of _Zuko,_ of all people, but anyone else… oh, spirits, Sokka would never let her hear the end of it…

"Don't worry, no one else is home right now," he quickly placated her. "They're all training down the beach. I told them that you got a stomach bug from some bad fire flakes and that you'd be better soon."

"Oh." After a pause, she continued, "But don't you need to train Aang? His firebending…"

"He's practicing earthbending today. And besides, he has his drills down. He can firebend on his own by now."

"Well, in that case, I am a little hungry," she admitted.

"Do you think you can get up, or do you want me to bring you something?"

Even more indignantly than before, she retorted, "I can get up." However, as she swung her legs out of bed and sat up, her head started violently swimming and stars flashed in front of her eyes.

"Are you sure?" Zuko worriedly asked. "You don't look so good…"

Blinking furiously to get rid of the specks in her vision, she glared at the fire prince and snapped, "I'm fine, Zuko. Just… just give me a minute, okay? I'm a bit dizzy."

When her head finally cleared, she slowly stood up. "See? I'm fine." Carefully putting one foot in front of the other, she started towards the door.

Zuko glanced at her, something that looked suspiciously like worry in his eyes, and muttered something about going to check if there was any bread in the kitchen. "You go find somewhere to sit down and I'll bring it to you," he added. When Katara started to protest, he quickly cut her off, "You look like you're about to fall over. If you're going to be stubborn about getting up, at least let me bring you some food, okay?"

She opened her mouth to fire off a witty retort, but something in his face made her stop before anything passed her lips, and she nodded instead.

"Meet you… in the courtyard, yeah? Some fresh air might help you," Zuko suggested.

She nodded again and began to shuffle in the direction of the courtyard, missing completely Zuko's eyes on her retreating back.

Agni help him, why was that girl so stubborn? He was only trying to help, but she was making it so hard! Not to mention her entirely too appealing still-flushed cheeks and mussed hair, eyes still heavily lidded with sleep, looking up at him through her long eyelashes, bright blue eyes twinkling… He shook his head, trying to scatter those thoughts. He wasn't allowed to think like that, didn't allow himself to think about her…

Bread, he had to focus on finding some bread. He was suddenly grateful for the simple task that kept his hands busy, as his mind was still stubbornly filled with thoughts of her, her with him, her looking at him with trust in her eyes… spirits, why didn't he kiss her last night?

As soon as that question flitted past, he winced. He knew exactly why he didn't kiss her last night. She was drunk, she couldn't think rationally, she couldn't decide for herself, she wasn't herself… and on Zuko's part, he was just a coward, hiding behind a facade of chivalry. Of course he wasn't going to take advantage of Katara like that, but gods, he had wanted to. He had wanted to…

His hands suddenly shook so badly that he dropped the plate he was holding. Zuko swore colorfully and began to clean up the shards of ceramic. He wanted her so badly that it was frightening. There were reasons he pushed thoughts of her to the back of his head, reasons like Aang, reasons like the fact that she had hated him for a full year… reasons that he couldn't find it in himself to care about anymore… he was hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. He saw her drunk one time, saw the vulnerable side of her that she never showed to anyone one time, tucked her hair behind her ear one time, carried her to her bed and draped a blanket over her one time, and he was smitten. Hopeless. Hopeless in that he had about an ice cube's chance in hell with her, and he liked her anyway. Agni help him, he liked her. He liked her so much… bread, focus on the damn bread. He could deal with the troubling realization of just how much he liked her later.

As he walked into the courtyard with a tray prepared for Katara, he tried to ignore the anxious fluttering of his heart as she turned to look at him, tried to ignore the way it got worse as she beamed and held the steaming mug on it to her face, saying, "Oh, you sweetheart, you made me some tea! How did you know ginger was my favorite?"

"Oh, um, I guessed," he lied. "And, you know, tea can fix anything…" Spirits, he sounded like his uncle.

He tried to tamp down the affection he felt for her as he watched her lazily waterbend little swirls out of her tea. Water and fire… it was dangerous, to be sure, but they went together so well… opposites attract, so they say.

"What?"

He jumped, startled. "Huh?"

"What are you looking at? You're smiling."

"Oh, uh, I was just remembering last night. You forgot how to waterbend." This was a blatant lie. He was smiling because she had come so far since when he first met her, back when she basically could only waterbend by accident. Now she was making her tea dance in her cup like it was nothing.

"You're joking."

"Nope."

"Oh, spirits, I really was drunk, huh?"

"Yeah, you were." Suddenly his throat felt very dry. He swallowed hard. A certain memory was called to his attention, a memory of Katara in nothing but her sarashi bindings, running a slender finger over his collarbone…

He was trying his best to remain casual. He leaned back on his hands, legs splayed in front of him. Damnit, he was a prince! Wasn't acting collected supposed to come naturally to him? _Well_ , Zuko mused, _one could say the reason I was banished was because I'm so bad at acting collected._

"Something funny?"

Oh, Agni burn it all, had he laughed out loud? "Just self-deprecating humor."

"What's the joke? I love to hear you make fun of yourself," she said with a devilish smirk.

"If I explained it, it wouldn't be funny."

"Try me."

If he explained the joke about him not being collected enough to be a prince, he would have to explain that it was _Katara_ who was making it so hard for him to remain collected… there was no way he could explain it to her. "No."

"Aw, come on, Zuko, you gotta tell me! Consider it your punishment for seeing me… act like that last night."

"Punishment?" His remaining eyebrow shot up in surprise. "Why do I have to get punished for you getting blackout drunk?"

She was blushing hard. Spirits, she was cute… "Because… because… oh, come on, just tell me the joke! Why're you making a big deal out of it?"

"You're the one making a big deal out of it. You're flustered."

"I am not flustered!" she protested, clearly flustered.

He grinned disarmingly at her. "Yeah, you are. You're blushing. And you're doing that thing that you do with your arms when you're flustered." He demonstrated, crossing and uncrossing his arms, then laughing as Katara realized she had been doing the same thing.

"Oh, stop teasing me! It was supposed to be my turn to tease you!" Her cheeks were a tantalizing pink, making her dark skin seem even richer. He absently wondered if they were as soft as they looked…

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you." _Quick, Zuko, think of something to say, anything,_ "I was thinking that… that bed in there was probably really happy that there was finally someone in it who didn't sleepwalk." _What?! Was that seriously the best he could come up with? Spirits, he needed to work on his improv…_

"What do you mean? Who had that room before me, when your family still came here?"

Oh, gods. Here it comes. "I did." He winced, ducking his head to brace himself for the barrage of angry questions he knew was about to be thrown at him, already thinking about what room he could give her since she would probably want a new one…

But all she did was smirk and ask curiously, "You sleepwalk?"

She wasn't… mad? He peeked up at her cautiously, head still half-down. "Yeah, sometimes. Mostly I just get up and walk around for a bit before laying back down."

She was biting her lip, and Agni burn him she looked good. "Why have we never heard you?"

He smiled sheepishly. "I'm quiet."

She snickered, then giggled, then gave in to full-out laughing. Allowing a cautious smile to curve his lips, Zuko asked, "What's so funny?"

In between panting breaths and chuckles, she replied, "I don't know! Something about the mental picture of you wandering around in your bedclothes is just… hilarious!"

He was soaking up the delicious sound of her laughter like it was sunlight when all of a sudden the realization hit him. She was thinking about him in his bedclothes. All he wore to bed was a pair of low-slung shorts. She was thinking about him… bare-chested. And she seemed to like it.

A furious blush marched its way up his cheeks, and he covered his face with his hands, hoping the gesture could be disguised as embarrassment. Unfortunately, his plan was foiled by Katara, gently grasping his wrists and pulling his hands down to the space between them, space that suddenly seemed like too much and too little all at once… "Sorry for laughing at you," she said, her voice suddenly quiet. "I… I didn't mean to be rude… I'm sorry if I made you upset."

He smiled shakily. "It's fine, Katara. I'm not upset. Just… flustered."

She slowly returned his grin at his use of the word they had teasingly tossed around just moments before, and she was still holding his wrists, _why was she still holding his wrists,_ and her eyes were still shyly fastened on his.

"What are you thinking about?" Zuko asked her nervously after a silence.

"I'll tell you what I'm thinking if you tell me what you're thinking," she teased gently.

"You first," he returned.

She looked down at her hands still on his wrists and slowly, ever so slowly, shifted them until her fingers were intertwined with his. "I'm thinking… I'm thinking that I don't really want to let go of you, and I can't figure out why."

Zuko's chest tightened at these words, and for a moment he couldn't speak because his heart had leaped so far into his throat. But when Katara let go of one of his hands to poke him on the shoulder and insisted, "Your turn," he swallowed hard enough to return his heart to its normal place, neatly nestled in his ribs, and spoke.

"I'm thinking that I'd very much like to kiss you." She was silent, staring at him. Oh spirits, it was far too late to back out now. "May I? Kiss you, I mean. Is it okay if I kiss you? I don't want to force you into anything you don't want to do, but gods, I really want to kiss you-"

Katara stopped his stream of nervous words by gently pressing her lips to his. Startled, he took in her closed eyes, eyelashes barely brushing her cheeks, before his eyes closed too and he was kissing her back, and it was everything he had dreamed of, everything he hadn't allowed himself to hope for.

His hand floated up to her face, gently caressing her cheek, and yes, it was as soft as it looked, smooth skin under his fingertips, she was allowing him to touch her… his other hand drifted gently downwards to rest on her waist, and her answering sigh of pleasure against his lips had him tilting his head towards her, deepening the kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand playing with his hair, and thank Agni he had grown it out because her fingers felt so good, so right…

It was a kind of fire that was new to Zuko, a gentle, warm kind of burn, like soldering two pieces of metal together, a perfect fit. Strange… in his experience, burning hurt, but this burning was so pleasant he never wanted it to end. Maybe it was because they were burning together…

Katara finally broke the kiss, taking beautiful little breaths for air, _he took her breath away,_ and rested her forehead against his, arms comfortably around his neck. Finding himself unable to resist, he tilted his head up and placed a quick kiss on her nose, enjoying immensely her giggle of pleasure.

After a minute of gazing affectionately at each other, her head dropped and she moved her hands, instead toying with the folds of fabric on his tunic. Zuko let the silence stay, content to wait for her to say what she wanted to. Finally, gaze on her hands on his chest, she quietly asked, "What… what are we? What will we be, I mean?"

He gently replied, trying to keep the hopeful tremor out of his voice, "I want to keep doing this. I want to call you my girlfriend. If… if you'd like that."

Eyes shining, she met his gaze and softly said, "Yes, I would like that." As he leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead, Katara sighed happily, "I'd like that a lot."

Zuko grinned and tugged her into another kiss, slow and passionate. His heart felt like it was going to burst. This was everything he had dreamed about, everything he told himself he didn't want. Oh, how he wanted it. And now that he had it, he was never going to let her go.


End file.
